Illinois State Board of Investment earmarks $200m for RE

The pension plans to invest in non-US real estate equity and real estate debt in 2016.

The Illinois State Board of Investment earmarked $200 million for non-core real estate investments for calendar year 2016, the same as its 2015 allocation, and made commitments to two funds totaling $100 million at its December meeting.

The Chicago-based pension fund plans to keep its real estate allocation at about 10 percent of its overall portfolio, director Bill Atwood told PERE. The pension fund had $15.4 billion in total assets as of November 30, including $1.5 billion in real estate.
Illinois plans to invest in non-US real estate equity and real estate debt in 2016, with all investments to be made through limited partner structures. The pension expects to make commitments ranging from $30 million to $50 million.

In addition to releasing its 2016 allocation plan, the pension plan also committed $100 million, split equally between two funds, at the December meeting. Illinois wrote a $50 million check to Westbrook Real Estate Fund X, Westbrook Partners’ tenth flagship fund. Westbrook Real Estate Fund X has a $2.5 billion target, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The firm held a first close for the opportunistic fund in January 2015 with $693 million, according to an SEC filing. The fund has drawn a number of other large pensions, including the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which invested $200 million, and the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which committed $350 million, according to PERE Research & Analytics. Westbrook was still investing capital from its ninth fund as of this summer. In June, the firm bought a 510,000-square-foot office building in New York from private equity real estate firm Savanna for $310 million in an off-market transaction.

Illinois also allocated $50 million to Madison International Realty Liquidity Fund VI. Madison International Realty’s sixth real estate secondaries fund launched in March with a $950 million target. Other investors include West Virginia Investment Management Board, according to PERE Research & Analytics. The New York-based real estate firm focuses on capital partner replacements, equity monetization and recapitalizations for class A properties in the US, UK and Western Europe, according to its website.